Swacchh Bharat - cleaning up corruption

The tremendous stress that the new government is laying on nation building is bound to give results but it would take its time. Nation building demands the toil of generations and definitely does not come cheap. The future, perhaps for the first time indeed looks bright.

One of the fundamental issues that needs to be addressed is the deep-rooted corruption, corruption that has engulfed the entire grassroots to the extent that there is hardly any interaction of the common man with the tantra that is not laced with graft. The common man yes, for the powerful are beyond its grip and the wealthy find a way around it.

Yet not many complain as long as the work is done, for unfortunately corruption has started getting regarded as an inescapable part of the cutting-edge processes.

In my over four decades of working within the system, I never witnessed a serious and concerted drive by my superiors to eradicate this evil from the various organizations. Unfortunate still was the reluctance to even bring this issue on the table and the effort merely remained confined to a review of the working of the assorted vigilance setups without appreciating that it is more of a cultural issue.

The real ease of doing business would indeed come, even for the common man when he does his business with the government at various levels, only when the cutting-edge functions are not laced with graft. For us bureaucrats especially, remaining confined to our comfort zone is the most ideal scenario. Why accept the ills of the system and why try to set it right when our life passes on peacefully handling issues that sound more impressive.

The irony remains that those of us who can change the system remain unaffected by it, and therefore have no stake in the change.

The solution lies in first acceptance of the problem, placing it bang on the table and then going about process reforms with a zeal previously unheard of. Yes, the solution lies in simplification of the various processes that define governance, empowerment of the executive to enable fixing direct responsibility and accountability and having a system of swift redressal of the issues as well as that of exemplary punishment to the delinquent.

The complexity of the tantra is the issue. The plethora of thumb impressions that every decision necessitates ensure that no single bloke can ever be held directly responsible. Such a system only emboldens the inspectors, the keepers of the cutting-edge who demand compensation from the client for every act for which they are getting a salary from the government too.

It is the same for everyone, except the high and the mighty. Whether one is an individual or a corporate, every single interaction with the Sarkar, especially at the cutting-edge level is generally a deal where nothing happens without a consideration.

We have to pause and think. Is it not necessary to go in for reforms – cultural, procedural and structural so that working becomes simpler, graft reduces and delivery multiplies?

Whenever I interact with my friends who are from the corporate world or who are plain simple citizens of the nation, the harsh reality comes out tumbling fast. And my friends on this side of the fence who indulge in governance generally feign ignorance or express helplessness.

We cannot have the mission areas – ease of governance and make in India, compromised by officials embroiled in corruption at the cutting-edge level. Cleansing the muck of decades is definitely not an easy task, yet a task that has to be handled.

One hopes and prays that the massive expectations are not belied.

Protocol, gifts and bouquets

The recent incident on a railway division where a senior officer was found threatening the subordinate for contributing towards the marriage gift of the daughter of boss of the senior was nauseating to say the least, yet none in the officer community was surprised.

An organization steeped deep in unethical practices cannot be expected to be jolted by such a minor incident that otherwise took the nation by surprise and also pricked the conscience of many who have not yet crossed the line between honesty and theft.  

I am reminded of an order by one of my ex-bosses who subsequently rose, if one calls it rise, to become the head of the nation’s largest monolith. The boss was brazen enough to verbally order for departmental get together dinner and booze parties to be organized at the expense of some hapless contractor every month. And as expected I failed to comply and landed into many subsequent soups at the hands of the boss who rose to the top, in rank, expertise in brazen loot and lowly acts of personal conduct. Yet no eyebrows were raised, when the boss issued his brazen order or when I was busy paying the price for my misconduct of brazen defiance of unethical orders.

Yet the latest incident is indeed beyond justification. How can senior officers be so brazen so as to threaten their juniors into submission merely for collecting an extremely high value marriage gift. That the junior by not succumbing to unethical pressure tactics rose a few notches in my eyes, notwithstanding, the conduct of the bosses is indeed extremely uncalled for, despite reflecting a true picture of the deeply prevalent rot in the society.

Excessive bent towards providing protocol to the senior servants of the government also saddens me. Why this bent towards something so immaterial and that too at the cost of delivery per se hurts me to the core. And that too when all these peripheral trappings are bound to vanish in thin air as soon as one crosses sixty. Yet people do not understand and the rot continues.

And the same with giving bouquets and opening the door of the car, not as a token of respect but just to please superiors for petty personal gains.

Sometime back I had taken a drive against plaques that were installed only to carve in stone for posterity the name of the blokes who did the honors while laying the foundation stone or during the commissioning of the facility that should have been there in normal course. Yet I must give credit to these blokes for so far their names have not appeared on plaques next to taps, cisterns and commodes.  

When is all this going to end, especially in the biggest corporate on the globe and till that happens, all our dreams shall remain in air? Tragic is’nt it and also sad that we are giving up on an organization just to satiate the ego of a few who but for the same could make a difference if only they desired. 

Building castles on foundations of mud!

I find it strange, unacceptable and often hilarious whenever I witness bureaucrats buckling under pressure, more often than not for reasons that are not above board.  What right someone in authority has, to pressurize sub-ordinates to do what is not right for the organization or the nation, and continuing on a similar vein, what right the dam subordinate has for doing what he ends up doing while toeing the line of the unethical superior.

The previous year and a half made me and many of my elk witness acts that no sane organization should ever have to witness, acts of gross impropriety committed by none other than those supposed to lead by example. And the blatant manner in which these acts were and are still committed, with vehement vengeance at their core are pointers to a saga that is much more sordid than what appears on the surface. Perhaps times have changed and so have the methods. Obviously the acceptability of unethical practices has gained ground and being ethical is out of fashion in our society. 

And corruption is indeed the biggest malaise staring at the nation, yet unfortunately not regarded as such and that indeed is the sad story of governance. The tentacles of corruption are so widely spread that almost every single interaction of the ordinary citizen with the sarkari tantra is laced with graft, cutting across political, sectoral and state boundaries. How the hell will we really move forward in such a scenario should be the biggest worry of all those who matter in the matter of governance in this nation, but do they one wonders? 

What is even worse is the fact that grossly improper conduct has accompanied the penchant for putting the hands in the till. In the good old days, those in the sarkari sector who had a tilt towards milching the organization they worked for, generally maintained a façade of an impeccable conduct for perhaps deep inside their hearts they actually faulted their indulgence in unethical practices. But not anymore, with putting the hand in the till being considered a birth-right nowadays. And therefore the sordid spectacle of loot coupled with the lowliest form of conduct almost bordering on the inhuman that we all have been sad and silent witnesses to.

Yet we look the other way till our own turn comes and only then we cry out load against injustice, a scenario played often in the social environment we inhabit.

Good governance is the magic word of the present times. But should it not begin with emphasis on and also strict adherence to ethical and moral value systems. Shouldn’t’ eradication of corruption and propagating the need for maintaining an impeccable conduct amongst all those in the seva of the sarkar be the first major step in the direction of providing good governance? Great things will indeed happen, but only after the basics have been taken care of and inculcating the same is not really difficult. It is my belief borne out of experience that each and every one of us longs for Ram-Raj provided it is for real and not merely in name. 

Personally, after having gone through the grind lasting almost three decades and a half, I am neither in favor of nor believe that castles can ever be built on muddy foundations.

Learning from the past

NOT MERELY SCIENCE, BUT DEDICATION TOO

Tuesday, 11 November 2014 | Ashwani Lohani | in Oped

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Human ego is the biggest stumbling block to progress and growth in today’s era. Bigger the ego, the lesser the delivery

The national penchant for re-inventing the wheel and invariably showcasing efforts as the first of its kind is as damaging as it is hilarious. I vividly remember the beginning of my tenure in the tourism sector when I was asked to take steps to prepare State-level master plans for the development of tourism. I tumbled upon a bookshelf and found that similar reports were prepared many times over in the past.

Yet, in our efforts that are directed towards self-perpetuation, we never learn, nor seem to be inclined to, despite the fact that there is really much that can be gleaned from the affairs of history. Napoleon’s conquests and his emergence as the emperor of France when he was merely 35, the rise of Germany as the most powerful nation in the world within 70 years of its being totally vanquished during the World War I and the ejection of the British Empire from the sub-continent almost single-handedly by Mahatma Gandhi, are classical examples from history that should  inspire us towards achieving greatness.

And it is not merely these great examples. There are many other equally important examples, albeit on a lower scale, that are within the realm of realisation by mere mortals. How many of us know that the great architectural masterpiece, Red Fort, took only 10 years to build — that too almost four centuries ago — and the iconic Howrah bridge took just five? That the three hill railways, namely, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Kalka Simla Railway, each took less than three years to build, is also beyond the realm of comprehension. Unthinkable indeed in the present era, when the skills, technological as well as managerial, are far more advanced than the time when those masterpieces were created.

Perhaps then delivery was as sacrosanct as processes are today. And therein lies the folly of the systems of present times. And it is also about ego. “The bigger the ego, the lesser the delivery”, a statement that symbolises the working of all the enterprises today, says it all about the causes that underline our most glaring failures. That human ego is the biggest stumbling block to progress and growth is a fact that needs appreciation. Yet what really surprises me is adjustable egos that do not even whimper when a superior pulls one up but flare up in the presence of a subordinate at the slightest pretext. And the tantra is perhaps the finest example of egos that remain elastic throughout ones lifetime. What a great waste of life, human life that according to the Hindushastra is conferred after passing through 84 lakh life forms.

The great Indus Valley civilisation of the 5th century BC is an outstanding example of what our ancestors were capable of even in those days that were bereft of technological advancements of the kind that exist today. The strides that this civilisation made in the fields of town planning, trade and culture are really an eye-opener and make us wonder with awe — if so much could be achieved in those days, why not now?

Perhaps it is all about our ability to dream and having a single-minded focus and determination to convert the same into reality. Yet the same would not be possible without three things — leadership, absolute integrity and ethical behavior, the void of which this great nation had been experiencing for quite some time now.  Yet we remain engrossed in trivialities, things that really do not matter in the long-run or even in the short-run. Moreover self-gratification and an absolute lack of concern for the collective can never propel a nation forward.